The Swiss National Park is Switzerland's oldest National Park and a Mecca for lovers of pure nature. There are lots of hiking trails...
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The Swiss National Park is Switzerland's oldest National Park and a Mecca for lovers of pure nature. There are lots of hiking trails in the Park, but the Val Trupchun is an easily accessible valley best known for its abundance of deer and ibex in the autumn, during the mating season in September. There is a parking lot at the entrance to the valley, and an easy trail to the Alp Trupchun at the very back of the valley.

For those who don't want to walk the first 30 minutes along the paved road to the bridge at Punt da Val da Scrins, there is a "tourist train" that will take you along that stretch. 10 minutes past the bridge is a little alpine restaurant where you can get refreshments before heading to the back of the valley. The official entrance to the park is right about here.

As the park is considered a "Strict Nature Reserve", you may not leave the trail at any time, and you may not even remove branches from the trail, and certainly no picking of plants. Dogs and bikes are not allowed, and one must not make noise, which disturbs the animals, and frankly is annoying to other hikers as well.

Most of the hike into the valley is along the Trupchun River, and as you head up the valley, everywhere you can hear the roar of the stags' mating calls, a rather eerie experience. Binoculars or zoom lenses help you spot the animals on the higher sections of the mountains on both sides. If you are lucky and arrive at the right time of day (evening usually), you might spot ibexes descending the vertical cliff walls at Alp Purcher to lick the natural salts that leak out from the rocks. There are also lots of marmots in this valley.

The return out of the valley can be done along the same road, or through a slightly higher (200m) mountain trail on the other side of the river. No matter which trail, it is about 2 hours in, and 2 hours back.

Note: This trail seems to be open late into the year, possibly for snowshoeing? The last link in this descriptions gives you information on whether the trail is open or not.

If traveling by car, the access to the park is easy, as there is a large parking lot at the entrance to the valley, and it is easy enough to return to your car. If coming by bus, pay attention to the last departure which is approx. 5 pm (in the worst case, it is another 2.5km along the paved road back to S-Chanf Station). The bus does not run often, but you can take the little "Tourist Train" right from the train station in S-Chanf or Zuoz instead (7 SFr. from S-Chanf one-way). No service for 3 hours over the lunch period.